Pages

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

The Night I First Saw You - A Hayate x Nagi Poem By Roop Banerjee

As promised, this blog isn't losing momentum just because the manga is over. For today, we have a lovely little poem by guest, Roop Banerjee. You might remember that she wrote the review for chapter 567. This is a poem from Hayate's point of view. There is a video included with the poem recited by Roop and some fanart by me of 16 year old Nagi and 19 year old Hayate. With that said, on to the poem!

The Night I First Saw You

By Roop Banerjee

On Christmas Eve I first saw you,

It was a night​ full of thrill;

You dazzled me with your eyes,

For me, time stood still.

Your childlike and naive self

Tore my defenses apart,

Your voice had a warmth in it

That melted my frozen heart.

I tried to seize you,

To survive for another day,

But that night your entire being

Stole my consciousness away.

For when peril arrived for real,

I could no longer wish to die,

At that moment I heard nothing

Apart from your piercing cry.

You mean the world to me

And even if I end up dead;

I'll be happy as long as you're safe

And I shall have no regret.

You're​ no longer dependent on me;

But I still am, on you;

And I need you to need me,

Although there are reasons few.

For I have hurt you a lot,

Never knew what you felt,

I didn't realise my own feelings,

For you that I held.

I'm happy that you love me,

Although initially I was amazed,

And I'm holding onto my hope

That your​ feelings remain unchanged.

I’ll always be near you,

While watching you from afar

And I shall protect you forever,

Like I’ve promised to a star.

I won't reveal myself,

Until you call me out;

For the time being I'll remain hidden

And stealthily roam about.

On Christmas Eve it all started,

On Christmas Eve we crossed paths;

And tonight on this Christmas Eve,

Three years will have passed.

It's been so long since our fateful meeting,

Those bygone days have been golden times

And still our bond survives;

I know that we're meant to be together

For the rest of our lives.

That's all for now, see you in the next post... which will feature an awesome AMV for Hayate and Nagi by another guest. Also here are some variations of that fanart. The dialogue was originally written by mellhurst once upon a group chat.

A few lines from our protagonists and now OFFICIAL couple by mellhurst... just because~

17 comments:

Thank you Cymark for posting my poem. I really wanted a chapter based on hayate's introspection regarding his feelings for Nagi but I agree with you that this is even better. With the subtle hints throughout the chapters, words cannot make it clearer than the gestures between Hayate and Nagi about what exactly is passing between the two of them. There is no doubt which direction Hayate has taken regarding his feelings with Nagi. My poem is what I believe will be more or less part of the conversation that those two will be having under the starry skies.

"On Christmas Eve it all started,On Christmas Eve we crossed paths;And tonight on this Christmas Eve,Three years will have passed."I loved these lines the most! It says so much.All the feelings and emotions bundled up in them! "I'm happy that you love me,Although initially I was amazed,And I'm holding onto my hopeThat your​ feelings remain unchanged"And these lines too,just the fear of unrequited love. The longing for the feelings to be reciprocated! Loved these lines too! Very well written peom! :)

Thanks a lot nayantara. I'm glad you liked it and enjoyed it. And yeah there was definitely the fear of unrequited love, I believe on both sides but now both are in love with each other and they know it.

Personally, my own poems are always a lot more ambiguous with their messages. I do have a clear interpretation in mind, but the wording is such that the piece itself can be taken to mean many different things when read by someone else.

This is why I found this piece by Roop quite refreshing. It's very raw and express in the message that it wants to get across. Clearly, this is Nagi from Hayate's viewpoint -- nothing more and nothing less -- and everything that was written in here can be deduced from the context of the manga.

I think the brilliance of this poem is in how accurately it captures Hayate. People may disagree with its message, but no one can disagree that this is definitely Hayate as the persona of the speaker of the poem. Roop talked about limerence once in her review for chapter 567, and I believe that this limerence that Hayate has for Nagi is strongly depicted in this poem.

Since Hayate x Nagi is now a legitimate romantic pairing (no matter how much people disagree as to how it came about), this poem fills that gap that Hata left behind for our imaginations as to what Hayate might have been thinking all this time.

It would have been nice to officially know what Hayate was really thinking in canon, but I think that leaving it a little bit open to interpretation while sending a clear message of romantic intentions towards Nagi in the ending also lends an aura of mysterious beauty to their encounter in the finale... that, and it fuels the drive for creativity for people who actually liked that ending -- as is evidenced by this poem right here.

Roopdidi, your poem is simply amazing. It seems like I can see through Hayate's mind. His journey through the entire manga is beautifully depicted here. Especially the line," And I need you to need me" ;it really touched my heart. And the way the poem ends with a subtle promise, the way it also describes that the world is too nice in spite of all the evils... it's really appreciable how you put the essence of the manga in such a short piece.

Thanks dear. I'm glad you liked it. And about that particular line, I've always felt that hayate has needed Nagi more than vice versa, he's very dependent on her emotionally. I might sound weird, but since you called me didi, are you my bhai or bon? I've always been curious about this.

Thanks shrijita :)Yeah I guess you're​ right. Maybe being a psychology student has influenced my way of analysing this manga. That being said, I'm a big fan of your views as well. You make pretty smart observations.

Really, thanks for reading my comments thoughtfully. Have you noticed, in the penultimate chapter how the colours are used to describe their mental state! When nagi talks to hisui, seems the clouds are going away from the sky, and clouds are often compared to the troubles. And when nagi mentions the mistake of the last year, the sky is purely dark, just a few stars are shining. It's like the darkness is for the misunderstansing and the stars are for the shining moments between them.Hisui in the last few panels and nagi while firing hayate are both facing the scarless moon, like they have found the right path and goal in their life. And when hayate bows and thanks her, seems like there is a huge source of light in front of them making their shadows smaller. This shadows can also be their darkness and misunderstanding. And in the last page, the background again becomes dark referring to the pain in nagi's heart.I maybe wrong but if I see the background colours like this, it feels more amazing, asuming these pictures are parts of the narration.

Exactly. The author has brilliantly magnified each of their emotions through the background as well. These apparently trivial details hold a lot more significance that can only be understood through an exhaustive reading of the chapters. I'm very glad you pointed it out.

@meandanime: You know, I just have to say that you make the most amazing inferences in this manga -- ones that I'd never have thought of myself.

I do think it's true though. There is clearly a lot that Hata is always trying to tell us not just with the text, but also with the images/action within the panels of the manga. Unfortunately, there's really no way to confirm any of these interpretations until Hata says they are correct -- but at the very least, I'd like to believe in them as well.

@violent cloud, thank you so much. I think all the interpretations have some meanings here. The author doesn't use those to fill up the panel but also tell us more about the story. Unless there would be no need to draw all the pictures so carefully. Then manga would be drawn so simply and instead of the various poses of the characters, there would be symbols to distinguish them like here Hayate's mom and dad had their names written on their faces in so many chapters. At least that's what I think.